All of my players are new to the game. Understandably, I conceived a simple tutorial mission that would take a couple of sessions, three at most, so that they would become familiar with the mechanics and the underlying processes to decision making in RPGs etc, etc... you know the song. As usual, things escalated very quickly and one of them has already blown herself up to save the team from almost certain death. In the meantime, I am taking my time carefully designing creatures by giving them a reason to be, both in narrative and mechanical terms, so that they can learn to ask the right questions and adapt their strategies to different opponents. Up until now they have faced:
Session 0.5
-Twin Beasts (some kind of wolves born at the very exact second, visibly wounded, right outside the walls of the colony)
Session 1
-Twin Beasts (some kind of wolves born at the very exact second, visibly wounded, right outside the walls of the colony)
Session 1
-Possessed scarecrow/corpsepeople (no, not undead)
-The former governor of the colony (who possessed the corpsepeople and was in turn possessed by a Ruinous entity)
Session 2
Their inner fears? I think they spent most of the session barricading the Governor's House due to paranoia and the events from the previous night.
Session 3
-Charred animal corpses with tar instead of blood in a smoking, perfectly round crop circle (that didn't belong inside the walls of the colony at all)
-30 Lost (people infected by an unknown disease a la I am Legend, only they also bleed tar and try to infect you by pinning you down through sheer numbers and vomiting on your face)
-1 Returnee (one of the Lost, kept in the dark, allowed to evolve, fast, cunning and furious, huge claw dripping tar and all)
Session 4
-Overgrown crimson serpent (long as three men, thick as an ancient tree, pale red scales stab bloated flesh, leaving a purulent trail behind, a third eye, blood red, opens in its forehead, you better not look)
As I mentioned earlier, everything must serve a purpose, otherwise I would be forced to face the purposelessness of my own existince and no one wants to do that, right? And so...
WHY ARE MONSTERS?
-Twin Beasts: don't fucking shout in the middle of the wilderness or the baddies will come for you, also well done for sharing your supplies with the guy that stayed behind so that you could make it to the colony, now the monster is weakened. Meaningful choices, yay!
-Possessed governor and scarecorpsepeople: the scarecrows were visible from the house, perched atop a stick, utterly still, sitting in the midle of the dry cornfield. When they animated and attacked during the night, the players cursed their own luck and their lack of judgement. Had they burnt/destroyed the scarecorpsepeople during the day, the night battle would've been much easier.
-Charred animal corpses: mmm... I'm not sure about this one, I think it was something like risk/reward? One of the players is a Cinis and felt an attraction towards a cinder shard encrusted on the side of one of the creatures. When his character touched it, the creatures awoke, but she gained the ability to shoot the shard with her awesome smokey powers.
-30 Lost and 1 Returnee: if the GM says "the floor is littered with discarded clothes as if they had rained from somewhere far above" and you are indoors, you better fucking look up... which of course they didn't and so they missed the naked bodies slumbering on the beams above their heads. They only noticed when someone fell down the stairs and some of the creatures awoke, this time raining for good on their oblivious heads. The Returnee was kept behing a door with the words "DON'T OPEN" written on it. They went in because they had to, in fact they needed the creature's heart to try and brew a cure for the disease (side-quest stuff), but this time they were clever enough as to drink a bottle of L'Oscurità, an alcoholic beverage that also allows you to see in the dark (there are no potions in my game, all some such drinks have an alcoholic base). When they did look up (thank god!) they saw the dormant creature hanging from the ceiling perfectly sill... and then one of the players proceeded to shoot the thing... which didn't kill it. Lesson not learnt: coordinate your attacks, they could've made the encounter trivial if they had told me that they were aiming at the head or something like that.
-Overgrown crimson serpent: shoot the obvious weak point. The creature had to open its third eye to use its hypnotic powers. By firing arrows and flinging javelins at it they made the encounter much easier (they had some help though).
So, after all these tutorial like encounters, I want to give my players another kind of challenge. More action oriented, more puzzle-like, more rewarding but at the same time more stakes raising. Hence...
BOSS FIGHT!
Astra, Daughter of the Mind
HD 5 Attack 5 Defense 5
Endurance 60 (yes, this is basically HP and only NPCs have it, I use a different system for the PCs)
Kinetic Shield 20 (frontal, absorbs damage from projectiles)
The battle takes place in a crystal cavern with geometric pillars that grow from the ground and hang from the ceiling. Astra is currently trying to synchronize with Silo, a newborn Numen, via an arm-thick link in order to extract information from the infant mechanical intelligence (which is basically a two part huge ass machine at the far end of the cavern with a beam of electric blue light connecting the top and bottom part).
The PCs are supposed to explore the cavern a little, see that there are some suspicious, non-harmonious growths coming from the crystals and find Astra connected to the thing, after which some expositional dialogue will ensue, and the music will change from this to this.
Phase 1 - 60-31 Endurance
In this phase, Astra will activate her Kinetic Shield, which will produce a visible effect like the air shimmering in front of her or something like that, so that the PCs know that something fishy's going on. Each turn, Astra will perform one of the following actions:
Call Crystal: Astra calls a glass fragment from the cave walls, which violently dislodges itself and flies towards her in a straight line. Everyone in its path must make a Skill test (or Reflex, or Dexterity, whatever your game uses) or suffer 1d6 damage. The crystal will attach to her body like a piece of broken armor, providing her with +1 Defense. The crystal breaks if she suffers 6 or more damage. This power can also be used to topple pillars and have them fall on the PCs.
Teleport: when Astra uses this power, the ground below a PCs character will start to glow ominously with cackling electric blue light. This charges the link cable. Next turn, she will then teleport to that position, stunning everyone dealing 1d6 damage and stunning anyone in the vicinity for one turn unless they pass a Vitality test (or Constitution/Fortitude).
Synapse (vs Skill): Astra grabs the face of one of the PCs, overloading their little brains with information while she scries their minds, stunning dealing 1d6 damage each turn. A Presence test or shoving/damaging/disrupting Ana in any way will break the link. When this happens, roll 1d6. If the result is equal to or less than the number of ALL the turns that PC has been stunned by Synapse, they gain one of Astra's powers. The PC becomes aware of this as soon as she starts probing their minds.
Astra's goal in this phase is using Synapse on as many of the PCs as possible while avoiding to expose herself too much. When she uses Teleport, the PCs have one turn to hit the charged link cable, which will interrupt the power and have her focus on the PC that hit the cable.
Phase 2 - 30 to 10 Endurance (shit gets real)
Astra realises that the PCs may actually pose a threat and tries to stun them with a psychic scream (Presence negates) before flying into the air and recharging her Kinetic Shield. During this phase, Astra can act twice per round and gains the following abilities:
Simulacrum: a copy of one of the PCs affected by Synapse emerges from one of the remaining pillars. The crystal copies have the same stats and equipment but cannot use any esoteric powers. They will try to disrupt the PCs with basic attacks, shoving, grabbing etc... They crumble to dust with one hit, no matter the source.
Arch Lightning (charges the link cable): Astra draws energy from Silo, shooting a lightning bolt at a PC (1d6 lightning damge, Skill negates). If the first opponent is hit, the lightning jumps to a nearby opponent which must pass a Skill test or suffer 1d6 and so on and so on.
Kinetic Blast (requires charged cable): shoves for 1d6 damage and knocks prone all the targets in the cavern (Vitality for half damage). The PCs can use the pillars to shield themselves from the blast.
So, Astra is now flying around, descending only if she chooses to Synapse someone again. Hitting the carged cable dissipate its energy, preventing her from using Kinetic Blast and forcing her to descend for one round, which will give the melee players a chance to smack her with their weapon of choice.
Phase 3 - 9 to 0 Endurance
Astra descends, her body pulstaing with barely contained energy. In this phase, Astra can act thrice per round and the cable is constantly charged. If she cannot annihilate her opponents in one round, she will turn into a bolt of lightning and escape the cavern by tearing a whole in the ceiling and try to rejoin her sisters at the Threshold of the colony.
How to beat Astra?
Positioning, positioning, positioning. The most dangerous attacks are telegraphed one way or another and can be predicted with some observation, which makes them easy to avoid. Besides, they will learn that weird stuff happens when the cable becomes charged, so they will at least have one turn to prepare if not interrupt her attacks. In addition, they can use the pillars to their advantage by trying to have them fall on Astra's head right before she teleports if they position themselves carefully.
Afterthought
After writing this, I realise I might've gone a little overboard with the powers and mechanics, and I am sure a similar effect could be achieved with a much simpler approach. Initially, this was meant to be something like Skerples's Stone Cobra Guardian or the Wolf of Rhen, the first of which features in his introductory dungeon Tomb of the Serpent Kings. Upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that some of Astra's skills are based on the one's of the guardian and the wolf but, as it happens, I don't seem to be able to keep things simple. I only hope that my players don't die to Astra and if they do, I hope they have a blast facing her anyway.
Session 4
-Overgrown crimson serpent (long as three men, thick as an ancient tree, pale red scales stab bloated flesh, leaving a purulent trail behind, a third eye, blood red, opens in its forehead, you better not look)
 |
| Kimmo Hautalahti |
As I mentioned earlier, everything must serve a purpose, otherwise I would be forced to face the purposelessness of my own existince and no one wants to do that, right? And so...
WHY ARE MONSTERS?
-Twin Beasts: don't fucking shout in the middle of the wilderness or the baddies will come for you, also well done for sharing your supplies with the guy that stayed behind so that you could make it to the colony, now the monster is weakened. Meaningful choices, yay!
-Possessed governor and scarecorpsepeople: the scarecrows were visible from the house, perched atop a stick, utterly still, sitting in the midle of the dry cornfield. When they animated and attacked during the night, the players cursed their own luck and their lack of judgement. Had they burnt/destroyed the scarecorpsepeople during the day, the night battle would've been much easier.
-Charred animal corpses: mmm... I'm not sure about this one, I think it was something like risk/reward? One of the players is a Cinis and felt an attraction towards a cinder shard encrusted on the side of one of the creatures. When his character touched it, the creatures awoke, but she gained the ability to shoot the shard with her awesome smokey powers.
-30 Lost and 1 Returnee: if the GM says "the floor is littered with discarded clothes as if they had rained from somewhere far above" and you are indoors, you better fucking look up... which of course they didn't and so they missed the naked bodies slumbering on the beams above their heads. They only noticed when someone fell down the stairs and some of the creatures awoke, this time raining for good on their oblivious heads. The Returnee was kept behing a door with the words "DON'T OPEN" written on it. They went in because they had to, in fact they needed the creature's heart to try and brew a cure for the disease (side-quest stuff), but this time they were clever enough as to drink a bottle of L'Oscurità, an alcoholic beverage that also allows you to see in the dark (there are no potions in my game, all some such drinks have an alcoholic base). When they did look up (thank god!) they saw the dormant creature hanging from the ceiling perfectly sill... and then one of the players proceeded to shoot the thing... which didn't kill it. Lesson not learnt: coordinate your attacks, they could've made the encounter trivial if they had told me that they were aiming at the head or something like that.
-Overgrown crimson serpent: shoot the obvious weak point. The creature had to open its third eye to use its hypnotic powers. By firing arrows and flinging javelins at it they made the encounter much easier (they had some help though).
 |
| Todd Ulrich |
So, after all these tutorial like encounters, I want to give my players another kind of challenge. More action oriented, more puzzle-like, more rewarding but at the same time more stakes raising. Hence...
BOSS FIGHT!
Astra, Daughter of the Mind
HD 5 Attack 5 Defense 5
Endurance 60 (yes, this is basically HP and only NPCs have it, I use a different system for the PCs)
Kinetic Shield 20 (frontal, absorbs damage from projectiles)
The battle takes place in a crystal cavern with geometric pillars that grow from the ground and hang from the ceiling. Astra is currently trying to synchronize with Silo, a newborn Numen, via an arm-thick link in order to extract information from the infant mechanical intelligence (which is basically a two part huge ass machine at the far end of the cavern with a beam of electric blue light connecting the top and bottom part).
 |
| Joshua James Shaw |
The PCs are supposed to explore the cavern a little, see that there are some suspicious, non-harmonious growths coming from the crystals and find Astra connected to the thing, after which some expositional dialogue will ensue, and the music will change from this to this.
Phase 1 - 60-31 Endurance
In this phase, Astra will activate her Kinetic Shield, which will produce a visible effect like the air shimmering in front of her or something like that, so that the PCs know that something fishy's going on. Each turn, Astra will perform one of the following actions:
Call Crystal: Astra calls a glass fragment from the cave walls, which violently dislodges itself and flies towards her in a straight line. Everyone in its path must make a Skill test (or Reflex, or Dexterity, whatever your game uses) or suffer 1d6 damage. The crystal will attach to her body like a piece of broken armor, providing her with +1 Defense. The crystal breaks if she suffers 6 or more damage. This power can also be used to topple pillars and have them fall on the PCs.
Teleport: when Astra uses this power, the ground below a PCs character will start to glow ominously with cackling electric blue light. This charges the link cable. Next turn, she will then teleport to that position, stunning everyone dealing 1d6 damage and stunning anyone in the vicinity for one turn unless they pass a Vitality test (or Constitution/Fortitude).
Synapse (vs Skill): Astra grabs the face of one of the PCs, overloading their little brains with information while she scries their minds, stunning dealing 1d6 damage each turn. A Presence test or shoving/damaging/disrupting Ana in any way will break the link. When this happens, roll 1d6. If the result is equal to or less than the number of ALL the turns that PC has been stunned by Synapse, they gain one of Astra's powers. The PC becomes aware of this as soon as she starts probing their minds.
Astra's goal in this phase is using Synapse on as many of the PCs as possible while avoiding to expose herself too much. When she uses Teleport, the PCs have one turn to hit the charged link cable, which will interrupt the power and have her focus on the PC that hit the cable.
Phase 2 - 30 to 10 Endurance (shit gets real)
Astra realises that the PCs may actually pose a threat and tries to stun them with a psychic scream (Presence negates) before flying into the air and recharging her Kinetic Shield. During this phase, Astra can act twice per round and gains the following abilities:
Simulacrum: a copy of one of the PCs affected by Synapse emerges from one of the remaining pillars. The crystal copies have the same stats and equipment but cannot use any esoteric powers. They will try to disrupt the PCs with basic attacks, shoving, grabbing etc... They crumble to dust with one hit, no matter the source.
Arch Lightning (charges the link cable): Astra draws energy from Silo, shooting a lightning bolt at a PC (1d6 lightning damge, Skill negates). If the first opponent is hit, the lightning jumps to a nearby opponent which must pass a Skill test or suffer 1d6 and so on and so on.
Kinetic Blast (requires charged cable): shoves for 1d6 damage and knocks prone all the targets in the cavern (Vitality for half damage). The PCs can use the pillars to shield themselves from the blast.
So, Astra is now flying around, descending only if she chooses to Synapse someone again. Hitting the carged cable dissipate its energy, preventing her from using Kinetic Blast and forcing her to descend for one round, which will give the melee players a chance to smack her with their weapon of choice.
Phase 3 - 9 to 0 Endurance
Astra descends, her body pulstaing with barely contained energy. In this phase, Astra can act thrice per round and the cable is constantly charged. If she cannot annihilate her opponents in one round, she will turn into a bolt of lightning and escape the cavern by tearing a whole in the ceiling and try to rejoin her sisters at the Threshold of the colony.
 |
| Alex Rommel |
How to beat Astra?
Positioning, positioning, positioning. The most dangerous attacks are telegraphed one way or another and can be predicted with some observation, which makes them easy to avoid. Besides, they will learn that weird stuff happens when the cable becomes charged, so they will at least have one turn to prepare if not interrupt her attacks. In addition, they can use the pillars to their advantage by trying to have them fall on Astra's head right before she teleports if they position themselves carefully.
Afterthought
After writing this, I realise I might've gone a little overboard with the powers and mechanics, and I am sure a similar effect could be achieved with a much simpler approach. Initially, this was meant to be something like Skerples's Stone Cobra Guardian or the Wolf of Rhen, the first of which features in his introductory dungeon Tomb of the Serpent Kings. Upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that some of Astra's skills are based on the one's of the guardian and the wolf but, as it happens, I don't seem to be able to keep things simple. I only hope that my players don't die to Astra and if they do, I hope they have a blast facing her anyway.
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